Tenesha Thomas, Gleaner Writer
Chairman of the All-Island Cane Farmers Association Allan Rickards is questioning the transparency of the bidding process for potential investors seeking to obtain the assets of the Sugar Company of Jamaica (SCJ).
A sugar cane enterprise team commissioned to oversee the bidding process had given interested persons a deadline of June 30 to submit proposals for pre-qualification.
But according to Mr. Rickards, who is also a potential investor, while the two Brazilian companies - Coimex and Aracatu - did not submit a proposal for pre-qualification, they are being allowed to submit their bids.
"What it means is that we have wasted a lot of time with the pre-qualification process and therefore should be just advertising and receiving bids for the assets," Mr. Rickards reasoned.
In the meantime, Mr. Rickards says he is still awaiting a response from the Sugar Cane Enterprise Team regarding his qualification to bid for the SCJ.
"On that date (June 30) the sugar enterprise team were to have opened these requests for pre-qualification, peruse them, decided who were suitable and then permit these persons to purchase bid documents to then submit their bids," Mr. Rickards contended.
No Comments
When contacted, chairman of the Sugar Enterprise Team, Aubyn Hill, says he will not be commenting on the issue. However, Farmers Weekly understands that the Government intends to extend the pre-qualification period by at least another month to allow those companies that missed the deadline to submit their documents and those that had already submitted theirs to resubmit.
The team, appointed by the Government in 2005 to oversee the divestment of the industry, says it has received 10 bids from international entities in the United States, Canada and India, to acquire the six sugar estates.
